Upside Down
“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” (Acts 17:6-7)
Introduction
Tragically, the conservative Christian response to recent political events is progressively revealing how back to front we are in relation to the spirituality the Spirit longs to impart. Whereas the first outflow of the gospel caused vehement reactions from the culture of the time, we are the ones in reaction today. My “In” box has recently been inundated with communiques from Bible-believers desperate that the Lord prevent left-leaning premiers in Victoria and Western Australia from enacting anti-gay conversion legislation. Which are seen, with some accuracy, as hostile to Christianity. Thus far, the efforts of these have been abysmal failures. When a devout brother recently told me of some of the ways he was praying against Labor leaders I could not remain silent. Not only does much of the Church seems bereft of the powerful peace God promised for all circumstances (Phil 4:4-7), but our reactivity to the secular power, is a sign of just how worldly the Australian Church has become (James 4:4).
Lack of Proportion
The Bible knows of only one real crisis in the history of God’s involvement with the world, the cross. In the aftermath of the death-and-resurrection of Jesus the apostles found themselves empowered to pray with a true sense of perspective. Calling God, the “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them”, they declared the plots of unjust political rulers to be “in vain”, for they could only fulfil “whatever your (God’s) hand and your plan had predestined to take place”. The result was that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:23-31). I cannot recall the last time I was in in a Pentecost-repeating prayer meeting like this! Whatever is happening in current Aussie/world politics it in infinitesimally small compared to the political events of the first days of Christianity. (Or even to what is happening in the street violence of Myanmar, where my friends are perpetually fasting and praying.) Through the marginalising the cross, the Western Church has almost entirely lost a sense of perspective. In 1915, amidst the slaughter of millions in Europe, the “prophet of the cross”, PT Forsyth, wrote The Justification of God, extolling the infinite, eternal and final action of Calvary. This is the sort of perspective we desperately need today. Where are the genuine prophets of the cross today??
Unbelief and Confusion about The Plan
“God writes straight with crooked lines.” (C.S. Lewis). If this is true, what is he writing today? I see the Spirit rewriting Western history and taking it back to the beginning. The term “Christian” only appears three times in the New Testament. Twice in Acts, of how non-Christians labelled the Church and mocked Paul (11:26. 26:28), then in 1 Peter in the context of criminal rejection and trial (1 Pet 4:12-17). All the first century Roman sources (Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny) use “Christian” as a term of derision for a “detestable”, “evil” “perverse” “superstitio” of a religion. Since the state decided what was/was not authentic spirituality, Christianity was deemed a dangerous unlawful cult. This is not yet the meaning of “Christian” in our nations, but things are moving in that direction. Christians were so hated in the early days because in preaching Jesus as “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) they threatened the kingship of Caesar and were seen as “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6-7). The gospel was undoing the whole fabric of the dominant culture of the day. This is the essential nature of the powerful message of Jesus (Rom 1:16). We however have domesticated the gospel to the limits individual inner salvation so it is no longer threatens the infrastructure of Western nations and the powers controlling them (1 Cor 2:8). By God’s wisdom however the tightening vice of political correctness can renew pure and undefiled religion (James 1:27).
Unloving Intercession
A word for all those praying against politicians (test it, 1 Thess 5:19-21). “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Rom 9:1-3). Unbelieving Jews continually tried to have Paul killed by the Romans (Acts 17:6-7, 18:13, 24:12-13 cf. Rev 2:9; 3:9), but, like Christ, he wanted to give his life to save them. When this spirit of self-sacrifice for enemies (Luke 6:27-28) is manifest in the Church there will be a radical shift in the spiritual world. But where are the “pleas for mercy” (Zech 12:10) for Dan Andrews and Mark McGowan? Where are the acts of kindness towards the wicked that will release “burning coals” of shame upon their heads (Rom 12:19-21)? Until these deeds come, all our words are empty of the power of the cross (1 Cor 1:17; 13:2).
Let Go and Let God
The entreating bodies, ACL, Family Voice, ACC, the Voice, Canberra Declaration etc. are full of godly men and women. Whilst I see much human activity through them, I am yet to discern, publicly at least, the brokenness of Christ about the dread moral and spiritual state of our nation which alone will lead to an outpouring of the Spirit (John 7:37-39; 19:34). (I don’t see it in my life either!) If we want ongoing material prosperity, we will never witness anything other than spiritual poverty, of the useless kind (Rev 3:17-22). We are the Laodiceans of today.
Conclusion
“I…entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…” (2 Cor 10:1). This was the humility of Jesus which wept over Jerusalem because it would not receive him as her King (Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44), it was the humility that moved the Lord of all to pray on the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). The entreaties and tears of a Saviour in a state of powerlessness moved the heart of the Father to put forth his hand in resurrection power to raise him from the dead and then to do great acts of power through the Early Church (Acts 5:12). A close reading of the Easter story and the intercession of the first Christians reveals willing submission (Mark 14:3; Acts 4:28, 30) to the sovereign will of God that brings undeserved pain to the righteous (Isa 53:11) is the precondition for a kingdom action in history that only a God could perform. (A revival if you like.) This is the challenge facing us today. This is a hard word for us all (John 6:60), but in Christ we can find power to submit to it.